Uncertain Times: Stories Untold
by Esid
Summary: Short stories about the past of the different characters in Uncertain Times.


I got this idea stuck for the last couple of days. It made it _impossible_ for me to write anything else. So instead of trying to ignore it, I decided it was best to just type it out and get it out there.

I'm publishing this separately from Uncertain Times because I don't want to break the flow of that story and it's too early for a flashback of this kind. Plus, I wanted to make this from the perspective of Tharja.

If you haven't yet read Uncertain Times, then you may not get some of the things that could be mentioned here. I suggest you go and read that too. From now on I will be publishing characters' backstories here. I can't promise that this will update very often, but still! Also, no chronological order to them. I will post them as they come to me, so you will see jumps in time. All these will have in common is that they take place _before_ Uncertain Times takes place.

Let me know what you think by dropping a review! If you want to see more, follow and favorite this story!

WARNING! Graphic content including rape and torture ahead. Reader discretion is advised.

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 _Knight in Shining Armor_

When first she was captured, she hadn't been afraid of what would happen to her. No, she knew full well what _that_ kind of men would do to a young woman if they kept her alive. Though the thought was not pleasant and even disgusting, she showed no fear to them as they bound her wrists and ankles. Instead of showing terror like the other girls that were kept in the small, windowless room for who knows how long, she scowled at her captives. And as they taunted her to say something about it, she refrained from speaking a single word, opting to instead to hold eye contact. She'd been told so many times before that her eyes, though as beautiful as they were, could scare people away, especially when she made eye contact. Men could be physically stronger than her, but mentally they were weak; easy to break. So she stared at them, letting her eyes speak for her.

The man she was looking at didn't appreciate it. He did take a step back, but he quickly realized that there was _nothing_ she could do to him. There was nothing in that room for her to use as a weapon, nor could she hide any on her body after they'd stripped off her clothes, letting her naked figure exposed for everyone to see. No, she couldn't bring any harm to him. She knew that too. The man slapped her with the back of his hand so hard that she fell to the ground. Yet, she showed no pain nor did she speak up, even as taunted her, as he called her a bitch, or as he kicked her. She stared and stared until the man, frustrated from not getting any kind of response out of her, shackled her up to the wall like all the other women and then left.

From a young age, she'd been thought that showing weakness would be the end of her. "Crying is for others," her mother had told her repeatedly. "It is _not_ something we do." Those words had been engraved to her cold heart; a heart that had never experienced the love it deserved from her parents nor a lover. Her mother had especially made it difficult for her to even think about love. She'd been molded her whole life to be all her mother hadn't been. She was to be strong and ruthless. Unbreakable. Becoming anything less than the most renowned dark mage the world had ever seen would be an insult.

For years she'd been trained in the dark arts. From hexes to dark spells, she knew it all. And yet, the moment her tome had been snatched away from her grasp, she had become as strong as any other ordinary girl. She didn't have the muscle on her as those soldiers that often traveled around the area she grew up in had. Nor did she share the passion for the sword that every other growing person in her nation had. She'd spent every waking hour focused on her craft and nothing more. And under her current situation, she could only wonder if she'd made a mistake during her studies. There were so many simple hexes that she could have learned that required no materials to execute. All she needed was to speak the correct words and she could kill every single one of those men… But her mother had never allowed her to learn them. They were "a waste of time." Why learn those incantations that would make a man fall asleep when she could learn a hex that would extract the life force out of any living thing? Thinking back, she felt ashame. Shouldn't the greatest dark mage _know_ the basics?

She wasn't alone in that dark room where the passage of time was indistinguishable. There many types of women there. Their ages ranged from just a few years younger than herself (six and ten) to all the way to three decades and some odd years. Tall and short, fair or skin touched by the sun, pretty and ugly, there were just so many… And the men liked it that way. Every so often the door that was their only peak to a world beyond those walls would open up, and in would come a man looking to have his way with one of them. They couldn't fight back. Whenever this happened, she could see the tears flowing down the faces of many, whispering to themselves some words that would make them feel safe until someone was chosen. The men didn't even have the decency of taking who they'd chosen to another room. They would pull down their trousers and just fuck the poor girls there as the others whimpered and looked away whether in shame of not being able to help or shame for being glad it wasn't them this time.

She was often called lucky by the men. From what they said, their leader had a particular way of running things. No one was allowed to touch a "new girl" until she had his way with them first. She assumed this mean that the leader had to be away if he hadn't come visit yet. She wasn't expecting anyone to come rescue her, so thinking that she could keep her chastity was the pipe dream of a little girl. The chances that she could get out of there with nothing more than bruises were low. She knew that much for certain. That didn't stop her from plotting her escape, however. Every waking moment she spent looking around for a way out. She would pull on the shackled that restrained her until the metal rings cut into her skin and droplets of bloods traveled down the length of her arms until they fell to the ground. Fighting against the cold steel was a losing fight. With only her hands to work with, she would never be able to set herself free…but she kept at it, if nothing else to at least be distracted and muffle the crying and whimpering of those around her.

Hours turned into days. Inevitably, the leader had finally come back and decided to pay a visit to the room just for her. The man was the typical barbarian. Some muscle on his arms, too much fat on his belly, and a stupid grin on his face as he lustily looked at her body. The man wanted a closer look, though. Not satisfied with only looking, he ran his disgusting, filthy fingers over her waist, up her sides, and over her breasts. The audacity the man had as he pinched at her nipples was enough for her to clench her jaw with all her strength. But where her mind was still under her control, her heart was beating faster than she would've liked, betraying her facade of cool beauty. How she wished she could bite down on the man's fingers until they would come off.

Eventually even that wasn't enough for the man. He spread her legs and then inserted himself in her. Her maidenhead was broken, but she remained silent. Giving him the satisfaction to react would make her no better than the others, and she wasn't like them. Where they would be crying and gasping for how their bodies were being treated, she remained silent and motionless, not even closing her eyes to pretend nothing was happening. Instead she was fantasizing about how she would cut off the man's fingers and genital and then feed them to him for what he'd done. Yes, that would be a fitting punishment...the _start_ of the punishment. Her mind went to work, blocking out her reality. If it wasn't for the final push and grunt of the pig followed by the seed that was poured into her, she would never had known that the nightmare was finished. Before she knew it, the man was already leaving, saying that no one else but him would touch her until she learned her the severity of her situation. "I'll visit you again in a few hours," he said closed the door behind him.

With the pig gone, she let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. It came out shaky, much to her displeasure. She felt shameful. Cleaning the blood and cum that was running down her thighs would bring some closure, but she knew that wouldn't be possible. Some of the others noticed her discomfort. "It's alright now," one of them said. "Everything is going to be alright." But as hopeful as those words would seem to some, to her, they only told her more about the reality she was living.

Those days turned into weeks. No one was coming. No one except the pig, who true to his word kept visiting and shaming her over and over again. There were times where the sexual abuse wasn't enough for the him to get off. Those days were the worst. The pig would whip her, which would leave big bruises and cuts all over her. He wanted to get a reaction out of her, of course. But she remained strong! She was even moved from the wall, where all the others were shackled, to the middle of the room so that all the other women could have a good look at what was being done to her. One day… One day she would have her vengeance. The pig wasn't the only one that would pay. Every single one of those bandits would know her fury. Every time one of them came into the room, she would make a mental note of the man so that once she was free, she knew how many times she would make them suffer before killing them.

Before she knew it, an entire month had already gone by. Some more women had been brought in, making the room that much more cramped and their share of food even smaller still. As the day went on, she counting down the time until the pig's next visit. But as the counter came to zero and the door open to let the pig in, there was something different about this time. She knew she wasn't the only one that noticed because instead of the others looking away in shame beforehand, they stared at the man as he gasped for air. He was covered in a mixture of sweat and blood, looking around frantically with a sword in hand.

Suddenly, a figure appeared behind him. The man was swiftly kicked to get him out of the way, stumbling on the ground like the pig he was. They all stared in shock at the man that stood at the doorway.

"So this is what you've been up to," the man said with venom on his voice. "What a disgusting piece of shit you are." The eyes of all the other women began watering. She could even hear the sniffling from the younger girls, some of whom had been there longer than she had, as they stared at what looked like their saviour. The man, clad in the golden armor with a red shirt and trousers worn under it—the clothes of one that is part of the Plegian army—stood strong with his own sword in one hand and a black box on the other as he looked around the room. When his glance crossed with hers, she felt a jolt surge through her entire body. Though she wanted to remain calm, she could feel her lips quivering slightly. She suddenly felt ashamed that she was so exposed in his presence, something completely uncharacteristic of her. She wanted to cover herself with anything, but she couldn't even use her hands as they were still shackled.

The man entered the room nonchalantly, his steps echoing loudly through the room. He set down the box he carried to his side as he said, "my orders were to bring you back alive to general Mustafa… That's not going to happen now." He stood tall and readied his sword, pointing it directly at the pig. "One of us is not coming out of this room alive." The cold stare the man in armor gave the pig and the cold way he delivered his words sent a shiver down her spine for some reason. They were nowhere near the level of cruelty that the man deserved. Still, they carried an oddly heavy weight to them.

"Wait!" The pig extended a hand in front of himself. "You are of the Plegian army, then? You said general Mustafa, yes? Then we are allies! There might be something-"

"Indeed. I'm working under general Mustafa...but I'm _not_ part of any army. I can see why you would be confused, me wearing this armor and all. It's pretty funny, when you think about it. Put on some armor and everyone immediately thinks you are who they think you are. Makes things easier. That's why I stole it from under Mustafa's nose, haha!"

"You little-" The pig stood up and launched himself at his opponent, putting all his strength into his swordhand in the hopes of getting a swift kill. The loudest clank like she'd never heard before made her flinch. The soldier had parried the attack, leaving his opponent completely defenseless. She was expecting to see a head roll off, but instead what she saw was the soldier deliver a punch directly at the pig's nose. She could swear she heard the sound of bones breaking when the fist met the nose too. The pig ended flat on the floor, trying to stop the blood from pouring out from his nose. "I yield," the pig said. "I yield! Please, don't kill me! I beg of you"

The soldier chuckled as he walked towards the pig and knelt down besides him. "Begging is good," the man told him. "Shows you have a good appreciation for life. You really want to live, huh?" The pig looked incredulous at the man, giving only a slow nod. "I wonder, though. How many times did these women beg you and your men to stop?" The pig's eyes widened, but before he could respond, the soldier continued on. "Doesn't seem to me like you treated them well, did ya?" No one else could see, as he was giving his back only to her, but she could see he taking out a knife from the back of his belt. "I wonder what _they_ will do to you when they get their hands on you."

The pig squealed when the knife dug into his back. He fell onto his stomach with unmoving limbs. "W-W-What are you doing?!" The pig yelled, much to everyone's surprise except for the soldier. "What did you do to me?!"

"Your whole body is connected by your spine, you see," said the soldier. "If you know where to damage it, you can have an enemy become completely paralyzed—permanently. Not even the best healer will know how to help you, even if you managed to get out of here with your life. The best part about it is that while you can't move, you can still feel pain… Now, stay still for a second." She could hear the whimsical tone he used for his last statement. He chuckled to himself as he searched the pig until he found the object he wanted. In his hand he held a keyring. She found herself freezing again when the man turned to face her, and when he moved to her side, she couldn't help but flush, though she couldn't understand _why_. There was a certain...warmth coming from the man that felt pleasant to her.

His touch on her skin felt like fire. He held her wrist gently, almost as if she was made out of porcelain and he was afraid she would break if he used too much force. The heat from her cheeks was spreading rapidly through the rest of her face. She couldn't even look at him. For once she was thankful to have long bangs that she could hide her eyes behind. All she could hear was her heart going a hundred miles an hour as he continued to struggle with the shackles and then also the soothing sound of his breathing.

"Aha! Gotcha," he said victoriously as he finally opened the shackles on her wrists. Faster than even she had expected, her hands went to cover her bosom and her nether regions. She didn't...want _him_ to see her so exposed… She heard him hum for a second. The next, she felt a cloth being draped around her. She gasped in surprise as she looked at the material. "Sorry," he told her. "Didn't cross my mind that you must feel so exposed. A little blind rage, you know? I wish I had more to give you, but I didn't think that anyone would be alive in here other than the bandits."

She didn't say anything in return. It was comforting to finally have something to cover herself with after so long, not to mention the slight warmth he'd left on the cloak from wearing it. She wrapped it around herself tightly as she looked at him work on the shackles that bound her ankles. This time it took him much less time to be rid of them. She was finally free.

She didn't resist him as he swept her off her feet, bridal style and carried her to where he'd set down his black box. For a moment, she felt like this man—this stranger—was what her knight in shining armor, like the ones she'd read about in the few novels she'd been able to sneak past her mother. He was certainly gallant, but the situation they were in was by no means a romantic one. Despite herself, she found it disappointing when he set her down next to the wall.

"Rest here for a while," he told her, "I need to free the others." And he did just that. She stared at his back as he got to work on the shackles of the many other women that were there with them. One by one, they would collapse in his arms, crying, saying thank you, and/or even fainting. For all of them, this would be the first time they would sit down in quite a while. Doing so naked and on the cold, cobblestone floor didn't bother any of them. They welcomed it just as gladly as they'd welcomed the stranger's warmth.

When he was done, he walked to the middle of the room and took a look around. "Can you all stand?" he asked. Instead of answering, everyone there, including herself, stood up. It didn't feel like an order, yet her body moved automatically. "Good." He offered a warm smile. "Follow me. We need to find you all something to wear and some food on your bellies."

"...What of the pig?" She found herself asking. For the first time in over a month, she had spoken. For everyone there, it was the first time they were hearing her voice. It felt like something had been lifted from her when she finally did it—like she had regained control over her life.

The Stranger looked at her and then at the man on the floor. "He's not going anywhere." To prove his point, he walked over to the man and once again took out a knife. He hovered it over the pig, pointing it down. Without hesitation, he dropped it. The knife had to be extremely sharp for it to dig into the man's leg so easily. It dug itself all the way to the hilt without any trouble. The man yelped in pain, but the only thing that moved was his head. "I said it before. He is paralyzed. And he'll get what is coming for him… But! All in due time! For now, follow me, please."

Something about the way he talked ignited something inside of her. There was no doubt in her mind that he spoke the truth and that he had no ill intentions for any of them except for the pig. She was the first to move towards him as he walked out the door. She had to cover her eyes when the sun hit her, cringing involuntarily. After so long of being in darkness, seeing the light was something else. She noticed that they were outdoors, surrounded by tents and then a wall of logs that acted like a wall. The room they'd kept them in was the only building in sight. But more than that, her eyes widened at seeing the ground. So many bodies. Their faces all belonged to the different men that had come to rape the other girls. She turned over to look at the Stranger in disbelief. He didn't look weak, but to be able to do all of that? Alone, no less… Just _what_ was he?

"We'll be back for you later," he said as he closed the door behind the last girl that came out. Turning around, he addressed them. "Sorry for the mess. Blind rage, yes?"

"What you said inside there...it was a lie, no?" Asked a girl nervously. "You are with the army and brought many men with you...right?"

The Stranger shook his head. "No. I'm here by my lonesome self. I was hired by general Mustafa, as I said before, but I belong to no army."

"Then… _What_ are you?"

He smiled at the girl. "I'm just a mercenary. Nothing more, nothing less. Don't be afraid of me, though. I mean no harm! Once I'm done here I'll even take all of you back to the nearest town. I'm afraid you will be on your own after that… But you are free to take whatever you want from here with you, be it coin, weapons, or jewels. Selling what these men can no longer use should give you enough to return home, wherever that might be."

 _I want to take you_ , she thought. The other women look conflicted with the news. They could finally return home...if such place even existed still. For her, she knew that answer already. Her home was gone. Burnt to the ground. There was _nowhere_ for her to go. None the less, she would travel back to town with them and see what she could do from there. She was now free not only from the shackles of the pig, but also from the invisible strings of her mother afterall.

He led the group to a big tent that was used to store many goods like clothing, weaponry, and such. He told them to go in there and look for something to cover themselves with. In the meantime, he would cook something for them to eat, or so he told them. Some of them were happy to find their old clothes and to wear them once again. Others, like herself, didn't have as much luck. She ended up finding a short, white dress that had belonged to some other poor soul at some point. It covered her well, though she noticed that the fabric was so thin that her figure could be seen through it. The Stranger's cloak came in handy. She didn't feel like parting with it, so she draped it around her over the dress, hiding away the marks that had been left on her arms and legs. Footwear was much easier to get. The first pair she grabbed fit her perfectly, as they should, since they were her old shoes. Instead of wasting more time with clothing, she looked around for her tome. It had to be in there somewhere.

There were piles of useless, single-spell tomes that lower mages would use. Pathetic. One should write their own tome and maintain it. Why carry so many different ones when you could compress the knowledge down to a single one? She would never understand other mages… For the corner of her eye, she spied the black cover and golden rim of the book she was so familiar with. Finally, her tome had returned to her. She clasped it and hugged it hard. It was like reuniting with an old friend. Now she had everything she needed. She was among the last to leave the tent to look for the mess tent.

Like an animal, she was lured to the tent from the smell of food. Only then did her stomach growl and she noticed just how hungry she'd been. Sheepishly, she walked inside the tent. Some of the others were already sitting down with a bowl of some sort of stew in front of them. She could see the happiness in their eyes as they ate spoonful after spoonful of it. Once more, her stomach growled. Just as she took a seat at one end of the table, a bowl and wooden spoon were presented to her.

"Eating something heavy after not eating well for a while can make you sick and even kill you," the Stranger said. "Stew is the best way to avoid that." She turned to look up at him. He'd gotten rid of the golden armor pieces that had the sigil of house Plegia on it, and he'd also rolled up the sleeves of the red shirt. Her eyes danced around as she looked at him. From the massacre outside, it was unbelievable that someone like him would be able to do it all alone. He had to be quite skilled in warfare and the sword to pull it off without a single injury.

"...Thank you," she whispered to him. Truth be told, it didn't matter to her if the food was good or bad. This was the first time someone had bothered to cook something for her. She was touched, even if he'd done it for all of them, not just her. She couldn't hold eye contact for long. She ended up setting down her tome next to the food and eating to distract herself. Maybe she'd suffered some trauma after what had happened. There was a name for what she was feeling. What was it again? The suspension bridge effect, was it?

"You're a dark mage," he said in surprise, snapping her out of her thoughts. "You must be pretty amazing if you had a personalized tome." How he could even tell it was a dark magic tome without opening it left her breathless. "I could never handle magic too well. Kept burning everything down but my target. I was talked out of training with it after a few days." He laughed. "Traded in the garbs and tome for something a little less destructive."

The light tone of his bantering brought an unwilling smile to her face. Upon noticing this, he smiled back before sitting down across from her. "But dark magic… That's a whole other monster! Don't see many young people like you trying it out nowadays." He kept talking to her, though she never responded. He just kept on going on about some of his antics and stories of his travels. Some of the others would laugh at his jokes, stupid as they could be. But she couldn't deny that they were funny, especially after she let out a few chuckles herself. In just over an hour, this Stranger had dissipated the terror that had set in in the bunch of them. Looking around, if it wasn't for some bruising and cuts on some of the other women's faces, you wouldn't be able to tell the hell they'd all been through.

But as fun as it was, they couldn't just ignore what was still inside the building. Someone brought up the topic, wanting to know what would happen to the pig. They all wanted him to suffer, that was clear, but to what degree was still up in the air. "The black box I brought in with me," the Stranger said in a cold tone, "it's a very _unique_ item. Years and years ago, torture was much more common than it is today. Normally, it would be done to get information out of people. In this case, however, punishment is the word I'll use."

"You plan on torturing him?" One of the others said.

"I was going to do it, yes. This group of people did many atrocities across Plegia. As their leader, he should pay the highest price, no?"

"You said "we'll be back"," she said again, looking up at the Stranger. "Who is we?"

He scratched the back of his head bashfully as he chuckled. "That man did no harm to me. You all, on the other hand, suffered because of him. You understand where I'm going with this? I won't force any of you into doing anything, but you are all welcome to watch and even participate. For some, you will want to put this nightmare behind you as quickly as possible. Others may want a bit more...closure."

While the others exchanged looks, deciding on what to do, she stood up, grabbing her tome. "I will do it." The others looked baffled, but there was a certain unspoken understanding in their eyes. One by one, others stood up too until half of them were on their feet. The ones that still sat looked away.

"Good," the Stranger said as he too stood up. "Then we should get started." He turned to look at the ones sitting. "You can rest in one of the tents. There are bedrolls you can use, if you like. You are welcome to leave on your own, if you would prefer that. Otherwise, I ask you wait for us to be finished." With a hand wave indicating the ones that were helping should follow, he left the mess tent and walked back to the dark room.

He swung the door open unceremoniously and walked in, making sure to grab the black box as he did. They followed inside, the last one closing the door behind them. The pig hadn't moved an inch. The knife was still sticking out of his leg, just like the Stranger had left it. The girls found themselves standing around the pig in a circle as the Stranger opened the box and showed them some of it contents, from sharp metal sticks that were meant to be inserted under the nails, to some sort of device that, as he explained it, was used to break every single join on a man's hand. And as he took them out, he would set them down in view for the pig to see.

That night was a dark one, in more ways than one. With the help of the stranger, each one took their turn doing something or another to the man. The most disturbing by far was what the Stranger called "The Pear of Anguish." Like its name hints, it is a simple steel contraption shaped like the piece of fruit with a crank on one of its ends. The mechanism couldn't be simpler either. All they had to do was rotate the crank. He let one of the others use it, telling them to put it in the pig's mouth. As the crank was rotated, the pear would slowly open up, forcing the pig's mouth to open wider and wider, to his horror. Even after the pig's jaw had reached its limit, the girl kept going. The result was a dislocated jaw that hung low, disfiguring the man all the more. The sound of the bone made when popping combined with the scream the pig made were burnt into everyone's memories.

They went at it for hours. To make sure the man didn't pass out, she used a hex that would keep him conscious. Even then, what they did, it couldn't be compared to what they'd been put through. The pig would beg, but the Stranger would just punch him until he stopped. Everyone had their turn, doing horrible things that no normal human being should ever do to another. There was no sympathy for the man. They were all ruthless. Vengeance was theirs...and it was sweet.

When the man was made into a mess of broken bones and oozing wounds, the Stranger decided to put an end to it. He pulled out the knife from the pig's leg and was ready to slice the "man's" throat when she pulled at his arm. He turned to look at her, confused as to why she would stop him.

"Let me do it," she told him. "After what he did to me every single day, I want to be the one to kill him."

The Stranger nodded, cleaning the knife on some of the pig's clothes before stepping to the side. "He is all yours."

"Step back," she told the others. A knife to the throat was too humane for the trash in front of her eyes. He would pay the ultimate price, yes, but in a _much_ more painful way. Opening her tome, she leafed through the pages of the many spells and hexes she knew painstakingly slow. Her hand came to a stop when she noticed an interesting spell. The title page read " _Flux_ ". She smiled mischievously. The spell wasn't all that special, or all that strong for that matter. What made this one special was how it could be _used_.

She recited the words written on the pages of her tome. What could only be described as a shadow sphere formed in mid air in front of her. When it got big enough, it dropped to the floor in a splash, forming a puddle. From it, one could make out countless small tendrils moving upwards. This wasn't _just_ a spell… It was a living creature. She moved her hand, and the puddle moved with it. She pointed her index finger at the pig, chuckling, and the puddle moved under him.

"Now know what it felt like when you forced your way inside of us," she said before snapping her fingers. The puddle went still for a moment and all the tendrils lowered down into it, disappearing. But then bigger ones came out of it surrounding the pig from all sides. Normally, the tendrils of Flux would crush the victim to death, but the way she cast it, well, it had a more gruesome effect. The tendrils dug themselves into the pig's body from one side to the other before going in again, and again, and again. If not for the screaming, the mass in front of her could be mistaken by some mythical beast. The tendrils were devouring the man. There would be nothing left of him. He screamed over and over again. And when he stopped, the tendrils enveloped the body completely before returning to be nothing more than a puddle and then disappearing. No remains were left, not even any blood. She sighed heavily as she watched the stop, unable to move.

"Neat," said the Stranger. "Well done." She looked up to meet his eyes. He was smiling. He was smiling at _her_. He was smiling despite seeing just what she was capable of. How many people ran away from her when she'd displayed her talent in front of them? This… This was strange. This was _special_. _He_ was special.

"There is nothing else for us here," he said, but she _knew_ he was talking to her. "Let us leave this blasted place behind." He placed a hand on her shoulder as he passed her, looking pleased with her. She followed close behind him.

Like he'd told them, he was taking them to the nearest town. They'd boarded a wagon he had brought out of thin air and were now on the road. All the others were sitting at the back, enjoying the first peaceful sleep they had since a long time past. She, however, wasn't sleeping. She was sitting next the the Stranger on the front of the wagon as he moved the reins to guide the horse along the path.

"What are you going to do now?" She asked him. He turned slightly to take a look at her, obviously confused by her question. He was more suited to ask her such a question. She knew that. She didn't care. She was curious. She wanted- No, she needed to know where he would go next.

"I drop you all off and then report to general Mustafa. Get paid?" His answer was simple enough, but it didn't give her what she wanted to know.

"And then?" She pushed again, keeping her eyes fixed on him the entire time.

"And then?" He repeated. "Go home until the next job, I suppose." He scratched the back of his head. Such a simple answer. She still didn't know what she wanted. So she pushed for _more_.

"Where _is_ home?"

He chuckled. "You are full of questions, aren't ya?" He looked at her as he smirked. Could he know where she was going? Was he deliberately avoiding to give away any information? She could hex him, she thought. She could _force_ him to tell her that way...

"You won't answer them?" She asked, her tone mixed with equal parts playfulness and threat.

He shook his head. "I don't see why not. Though, wouldn't you hesitate to share the information with someone that you don't even know the name of?"

"Tharja."

"Hm?"

"My name is Tharja."

"A pleasure, Tharja." Hearing her name leave his lips was bliss. Her heart fluttered that simply. To think such thing was possible! She wanted _more_ of it! More of that feeling! She wanted to hear him keep repeating her name! But then… She wanted to know her mercenary-in-plain-clothe's name too!

"Will you tell me your name, then?"

"The name 's Robin."

 _Robin_ … A name she would forever engrave in her heart, even if she didn't know it yet. The name she would relish in saying. The Stranger was no more. There was only Robin.


End file.
